As always with family days this ride was scheduled to start at 5:30am or earlier to meet up with the family at Splish Splash water park at opening 10am.

I’ve never been to a water park. What we had heard about Splish Splash is that the lines are very long. So we aimed to get there as early as possible to get the best experience possible.

The ride was approximated to be about 4 hours and 30 minutes.

Packing my bike essentials and making nutrition the night before always is the best way to get prepared for an early ride.

I got up my usual 4am for this early morning ride. I made sure to scope out the Splish Splash map of attractions in order to have a better idea and forecast of the activities we would be doing with Miles, our 4-year old. There were at least 4 toddler specific activities we could partake in with him.

My rides have been pretty much uneventful mechanically until this one. 15 miles into the ride I got a flat. It wasn’t any popping sound that made me aware of this but the back wheel wasn’t feeling as smooth so when I looked sure enough it was a flat. I came prepared off course with my flat kit mounted behind my saddle. I checked the tire to make sure there were not any sharp objects that may cause a next flat before moving on to conclude the fix. 2 minutes into this fix flat again. This time I was out of CO2s and an inner tube. Looks like I had 2 used cartridges in my saddle bag. Note: verify all cartridges are new especially on long rides!! A fellow rider stopped to help out, I was able to get an inner tube from him though it was a tard short since I was using a deep dish 55mm wheel. His tube was 60mm so I would barely get the inflator on. Sure enough the force I applied broke off the valve – ouch! Took a next 20 minutes to get a next rider in sight of where I was to help. Perfect he too had a deep dish and a spare 80mm tube. With success I was able to get this tire situation fixed.

Off I continued towards Calverton, where Splish Splash is located. I made sure to inform Anh that I would be running late due to a flat(s) and that she too should adjust her driving schedule.

The rest of the way I made sure to be extra vigilant with tiny bits of glass etc on the road. This may have happened due to the fact the the roads were still very wet from the rain the night before. Wheels tend to pickup more of these potential flat causing objects in wet weather.

The goal for this ride was just to keep a moderately hard effort. I continued that pace throughout the ride not paying too much attention to power and just using percieved effort, PRE.

74 miles later from home I arrived at Splish Splash water park.

The day at Splish Splash continued on perfectly. The lines were not too long. The atmosphere was great. Miles and even our infant had a wonderful time.

6 weeks to race day……….